Longtime friend claims Curtis Wayne Wright's innocence

A Bonita Springs neighborhood is on edge. People who live near Mark Sievers told us they are scared to go to sleep. Some won't' even let their children play outside.

Investigators said Mark Sievers planned his wife's murder and hired a hitman. But he has yet to been arrested.

"I live right beside him. I feel that I'm in danger," said neighbor Kimberly Torres.

It's a feeling that's hard to shake for Torres after detectives revealed this week they believe her neighbor, Mark Sievers, planned his wife's death.

"If there's still a killer on the loose…Maybe he didn't do it himself, but he was involved in the planning. That says a lot about a person," said Torres.

Dr. Teresa Sievers was bludgeoned to death five months ago inside her Bonita Springs home.

One of the accused killers is Curtis Wayne Wright -- a childhood friend of Mark Sievers. But now, a longtime friend says Wright had nothing to do with the crime.

Mark Sievers is still a free man. He was last seen leaving his home on Jarvis Road just before 2 p.m. on Thursday.

For the first time, we're hearing from a friend of Curtis Wayne Wright who said he thinks Wright is innocent.

"It's not in his character. I've never seen this man lose his temper," said Jerry Lubinski, a friend of Curtis Wayne Wright.

NBC2 spoke to Lubinski on the phone Thursday. He lives in Missouri and has known Wright for almost 10 years.

Court documents show the GPS used to place Wright in Florida belonged to Lubinski. He said Wright would often use the GPS to travel to Florida and believes the preprogrammed route cited by detectives may be from an old trip.

"I know of two trips to Florida before. He was mostly putting in security systems," said Lubinski.

Lubinski said he only met Mark Sievers once at Wright's wedding, but said he seemed like a good guy.

"I thought he was a nice guy. But, you know, I didn't know him that well," said Lubinski.

Despite Lubinski's claims that the data on the GPS may be from an old trip, investigators have surveillance photos placing Wright in Florida on the weekend of Teresa Sievers murder.

Several other statements made by Lubinski on the phone did not match what he first told detectives. When we asked him why that was, Lubinski could not provide and explanation.

Concern over Sievers' children

After confirming Mark Sievers still has custody of his two daughters. We watched their tutor pull out of the home around 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Mark Sievers left about 45 minutes later.

NBC2 is continuing to ask the Department of Children and Families for information about the Sievers' children. The agency only said it is involved in the investigation, but won't revel how or when they were contacted.

The murder case, along with the new information, have a lot of people - including the Lee County Sheriff - worried about the two girls.

While investigators keep digging through thousands of pieces of evidence, Sheriff Scott's thoughts are with the couple's two children.

"This will be the first Christmas that Dr. Sievers' daughters are without their mother," said Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott.

The children remain in Mark Sievers' custody. Even though DCF is involved, they won't comment on the case -- citing state law protecting the girls.

NBC2 learned the 11 and 8-year-olds continue to stay at the home where their mother was murdered. Investigators list their father as within the window of suspicion.

"If that doesn't prompt someone who may have some information on this to come forward, they are without their mother - who did nothing to bring this on her - then nothing will," said Sheriff Scott.

Mark Sievers told investigators his family lived paycheck-to-paycheck for the most part, even though evidence seized by investigators included $40,000 inside a safe in the couple's home. Still, the totality of evidence is still unknown.

"We remain guarded on what we say and how much we disclose," said Sheriff Scott.

Other evidence in the case included computers from the doctor's office that were reportedly dumped by Mark Sievers the day of Teresa's funeral.

We've told you the Lee County Sheriff's Office reports Mark Sievers has not spoken with them since hiring a lawyer in early July.

Defense attorney's we spoke with said that's no shock.

"At this point, I keep my client's mouth shut and make sure we're prepared to combat any of the evidence that comes forward and not make it any worse," said defense attorney Scott Moorey.

"The defense attorney's job is not to prove their client is innocent, that is for the State Attorney to accuse the client beyond exclusion of all reasonable doubt," said defense attorney Scot Goldberg.

We've requested more documents from the State Attorney's Office. They continue to say they are working on our request.